Method for facilitating chemical supplier transactions

ABSTRACT

A business-to-business transaction clearinghouse integrates the traditional point-to-point business supply chain at the clearinghouse. The clearinghouse provides cost effective access to a wide variety of members and includes value-added services. Members of the clearinghouse can include trading members, members that help the trading members ship their products, and banking members. The clearinghouse facilitates business among the trading members by providing a single point of contact for all transactions. The clearinghouse can be specific to an industry, such as the chemical industry. Multiple industry specific clearinghouses may form a network clearinghouses to effectively create one larger and more general business-to-business electronic commerce community.

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/493,794 (filed 28 Jan. 2000). The entire disclosure of this priorityapplication is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to electronic commerce, and morespecifically, to business-to-business electronic commerce.

2. Description of Related Art

In the business world, transaction costs associated with the buying andselling of products and raw materials can be significant. A single saleoften requires a number of communications between the purchasing andselling entities, each requiring employee time to process, record, andapprove the communications.

As an example of a typical business transaction, consider the situationin which a first company wishes to purchase a quantity of chemicals froma chemical supplier. A typical supply chain process for this type oftransaction is illustrated in FIG. 1. The supply chain includes a numberof component transactions between the purchasing company 101 and itssupplier 102. These component transactions and an example of thedocuments associated with them are listed in box 103. Supporting thirdparty services 105, such as banking and shipping services, are alsoinvolved in the transaction.

The purchasing company 101 may begin by making inquiries of its currentsuppliers to determine which one can supply the chemicals at the bestprice. This step often entails a lengthy request for proposal (RFP)process and many purchaser-supplier visits. The supplier and thepurchaser agree on the specifications of the desired chemical and on thehandling of any regulatory requirements. A purchase order is then issuedby the purchasing company to officially place the order. The purchaseorder is processed and acknowledged by the supplier.

Actually shipping the chemical may involve a significant logisticaleffort. For example, a third party shipping company is selected, and inconnection with shipping the chemicals, a shipping note and a bill oflading are generated and given to the shipping company. Additionaldocuments such as a certificate of analysis, which verifies that thepurchased chemicals are the ones ordered, and a material safety datasheet, which includes handling and safety information for the chemical,may also be generated by the supplier and transmitted to the purchaser.

Arrival of the chemicals at the purchaser triggers the creation ofadditional documents, such as a delivery receipt, an invoice, andeventually, payment by the purchasing company to the supplier for thedelivered chemicals. The conventional supply chain process can thus becumbersome, labor intensive, and relatively expensive.

A network of purchasers and suppliers such as those illustrated abovecan be conceptualized as a point-to-point network of trading entities.Such a network is illustrated graphically in FIG. 2. Each trading entity201 communicates directly with other entities in the network viacommunication lines 202. Communication lines 202 represent, for example,communication by phone, facsimile, mail, or EDI messages (describedbelow).

In an effort to automate records relating to purchasing and selling,many companies use enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. ERPrefers to a broad set of activities supported by multi-moduleapplication software that help a business manage the important parts ofits operations, including product planning, parts purchasing,maintaining inventories, interacting with suppliers, providing customerservice, and tracking orders. An ERP system can also include applicationmodules for the finance and human resources aspects of a business.

Although an ERP may help to automate a company internally, ERP systemsof various companies are often not compatible with one another.Accordingly, documents that are to be exchanged with outside companiesare often printed as hard copies, transmitted to the other company overcommunication lines 202 in the form of, for example, a facsimile, andmanually entered in the other companies ERP system. Thus, althoughpurchasers and suppliers may be automated internally, their systems areusually isolated from an ability to communicate with each other. Thus,despite automation at both companies, a “manual gulf” over communicationlines 202 still exists between companies. Companies traverse the gulfbetween systems by manual processes such as mail, email, fax, meetings,and phone calls.

One attempt to take advantage of computerized ERP systems and toeliminate the manual gulf between companies is the electronic datainterchange (EDI) protocol, which is a standard format for exchangingbusiness commerce data. In an EDI exchange, automated systems, such asERP systems at two of entities 201, exchange EDI messages overcommunication lines 202. An EDI message contains a string of dataelements, each of which represents a singular fact, such as a price,product model number, and so forth, separated by delimiters. The entirestring is called a data segment. One or more data segments framed by aheader and trailer form a transaction set, which is the EDI unit oftransmission (equivalent to a message). A transaction set often consistsof what would usually be contained in a typical business document orform, such as a purchase order. The EDI standard is available from theData Interchange Standards Association, of Virginia.

EDI, however, has not been widely adopted. It has proven to berelatively expensive to install and maintain, particularly for smallcompanies. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 2, EDI only providespoint-to-point automation and does nothing for integrating suppliers andcustomers in a business community. As a result, EDI is presently onlyused by a small fraction of the companies involved in business tobusiness commerce.

Thus, there is a need in the art to automate the supply chain ofbusinesses in a way that is both efficient and widely available to alarge number of member companies.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the presentinvention address the needs identified above by integrating thetraditional point-to-point business supply chain at a clearinghouse.

More particularly, one aspect of the present invention is directed to asystem for facilitating business-to-business transactions. The systemcomprises a network coupled to a plurality of member businesses and aclearinghouse computer server. The clearinghouse is associated with themembers and coupled to the members through the network. Theclearinghouse receives and forwards electronic messages transmittedbetween at least two of the plurality of members, the messagescorresponding to communications in a business-to-business transactionthat relate to initiation of the transaction, and at least one of orderfulfillment for the transaction and payment processing for thetransaction.

A second aspect of the present invention is directed to a computernetwork comprising a plurality of trading members, at least one bankingmember, at least one shipping member, and a clearinghouse. Theclearinghouse is coupled to the trading members, the banking member, andthe shipping member. Communications between the trading members, bankingmembers, and shipping members is routed through the clearinghouse, andthe clearinghouse includes software components for managing the servicesprovided by the banking and shipping members to the trading members.

Another aspect of the present invention is a method that includesgenerating messages relating to business-to-business commercetransactions at an enterprise resource planning computer system,including generating messages relating to the management of supply chainactivities of a company, the messages corresponding to communications ina business-to-business transaction. The method further includesconverting the messages generated by the enterprise resource planningcomputer system into extensible markup language (XML) messages andtransmitting the converted messages over the Internet to a clearinghousethat processes the converted messages and provides services related toorder fulfillment for the transaction and payment processing for thetransaction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate several embodiments consistentwith this invention and, together with the description, help explain theprinciples of the invention. In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a typical supply chain process in abusiness-to-business transaction;

FIG. 2 is a graphical illustration of a conventional point-to-pointnetwork of purchasers and suppliers;

FIG. 3A is a high level diagram illustrating a network of tradingmembers connected to a clearinghouse in a manner consistent with thepresent invention;

FIG. 3B is a diagram conceptually illustrating the functionalrelationship of the trading members and the clearinghouse;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a hardware implementation for theclearinghouse;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the interaction of the clearinghousewith various exemplary trading members of the network;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating exemplary services performed by theclearinghouse shown in FIGS. 3-5;

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary business-to-businesstransaction between members in the clearinghouse network; and

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a network of a plurality industryspecific clearinghouses.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawingsthat illustrate the embodiments of the present invention. Otherembodiments are possible and modifications may be made to theembodiments without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention. Therefore, the following detailed description is not meant tolimit the invention. Rather the scope of the invention is defined by theappended claims.

As described herein, a business-to-business transaction clearinghouseintegrates the traditional point-to-point business supply chain at theclearinghouse. The clearinghouse provides cost effective access to awide variety of member computer systems and includes value-addedservices. The clearinghouse facilitates business among trading partnersby providing a single point of contact for all transactions. Any memberof the clearinghouse can conduct business with any other member bysending the transaction through the clearinghouse.

Clearinghouse Architecture and Implementation

FIG. 3A is a high level diagram illustrating a network of tradingmembers connected to a clearinghouse in a manner consistent with thepresent invention. Trading members 301 may be any company or otherentity wishing to trade using clearinghouse 302. Clearinghouse 302 isconnected to each of members 301 via network 305, such as the Internet.The interaction of members 301 with each other and with clearinghouse302 is described in more detail below.

FIG. 3B is a diagram conceptually illustrating the functionalrelationship of clearinghouse 302 with trading members 301. As shown,clearinghouse 302 functions as an intermediary for communicationsbetween trading members 301. In contrast to the point-to-point networkshown in FIG. 2, each of trading members 301 only has to be configuredto communicate with a single entity—clearinghouse 302.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary hardware implementationfor clearinghouse 302. Clearinghouse 302 may generally be implemented asa server computer system including one or more processors 410operatively coupled to computer memories 411. Processors 410 executesprogram instructions stored in computer memories 411. Informationdestined for external systems connected to network 305 (such as tradingmembers 301), may be transmitted to network 305 by network router 412.

Processors 410 may either accept program instructions from a computerstorage device (e.g., optical or magnetic disk) or from network 305.BIOS code (i.e., computer instructions) causing the system to implementthe disclosed techniques may be programmed into a non-volatile portionof computer memory 411. The BIOS may be programmed when the system ismanufactured or may be later delivered via a computer readable medium.

Processors 410 can be any of a number of well known computer processors,such as processors from Intel Corporation, of Santa Clara, Calif. Moregenerally, clearinghouse 302 may be implemented using any of well knowncomputing platforms designed to interact with devices on the network.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the interaction of clearinghouse 302with various exemplary trading members 501, 502, and 503. Assume tradingmember 501 is a corporation with a previously installed ERP system thatincludes the ability to use EDI. Trading member 502 is a smallersupplier and does not have an ERP system or EDI capability. Tradingmember 503 is a third party service provider such as a bank or ashipping company; assume they use an ERP system but do not have EDIcapability.

To facilitate cost effective and universal communication withclearinghouse 302, clearinghouse 302 preferably communicates with eachof trading members 501-503 using a common standard such as the XMLstandard. XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a well known descriptivelanguage that allows for the transmission of information, over intranetsor the Internet, that includes both formatting information andinformation describing the data. In comparison to EDI, XML is generallyconsidered to be easier to learn and program and requires the user toinvest less in computer hardware.

Because trading member 501 may already have invested significantly in anERP system and in EDI processing, clearinghouse 302 interacts withmember 501 without requiring member 501 to revamp its existing computinginfrastructure. Instead, translation server 510 is connected to ERP/EDIcomputer system(s) 511 of member 501. Translation server 510 translatesEDI or member proprietary messages received from computer system 511into XML and forwards the XML data to clearinghouse 302. Similarly,translation server 510 converts XML data received from clearinghouse 502to a form understandable by computer 511. Translation server 510 iscustomized to operate with ERP/EDI computer system(s) 511. In thismanner, by using translation servers 510 to convert supply chaininformation from a member specific format to a format understood byclearinghouse 302, multiple trading members with disparate computersystems can all communicate with one another simply by installing asingle translation server.

Computer systems that convert EDI messages to XML data are known in theart. One such system is available from XMLSolutions Corporation, ofMcLean, Va.

Alternatively, the trading member's internal computer system 511 may beoriginally designed to operate using the message format of clearinghouse302. In this situation, translation server 510 would not be necessary.Additionally, as one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize,although translation server 510 is illustrated as a stand alone computerserver, it could equivalently be implemented as software in the member'scomputer system 511.

In contrast to trading member 501, trading member 502 does not have anautomated transaction processing system. However, trading member 502 maystill communicate with clearinghouse 302 using a web browser 515. Aspreviously mentioned, information transmitted in XML can include bothformatting information and descriptive information describing the data.The formatting information allows web browser 515 to display thecontents of the XML document. XML documents may be interactive, allowingtrading member 502 to input and transmit information to clearinghouse302.

Member 503 connects to clearinghouse 302 in a manner similar to tradingmember 501. A translation server 520 converts information from themembers ERP system 521 and interfaces ERP 521 with clearinghouse 302.Web browser 522 may concurrently be used by member 502 to interact withclearinghouse 302. In particular, translation server 520 may forwardinformation relating to functionality not implemented in ERP 521 to webbrowser 522.

Clearinghouse Services

Clearinghouse 302 provides a number of electronic commerce services toits members. These services are implemented by software running atclearinghouse 302. FIG. 6 is a diagram graphically illustrating examplesof some of the services that clearinghouse 302 may implement. Theillustrated services include:

A. Order Processing (component 601)

B. Supplier Managed Inventory (SMI) Services (component 602)

C. Shipment Tracking (component 603)

D. Banking/Billing (component 604)

E. Business Intelligence (component 605)

F. Product Catalogs (component 606)

G. Logistics Procurement (component 607)

H. Regulatory Reporting (component 608)

I. Product Auctions (component 609)

J. Industry News (component 610)

Trading members may select a combination of these services to provide anoptimized solution for their particular situation. For example, onemember may initially decide to use only the shipment tracking functionswhile another member uses order processing, shipment tracking, andbusiness intelligence.

The services provided by the clearinghouse 302 may be integrated so thatthe more services a member uses, the greater the value. For example, ifa member uses both order processing and shipment tracking, the membermay be able to link directly from the order to shipment trackinginformation.

Each of the services shown in FIG. 6 will now be discussed in moredetail.

A. Order Processing component 601

Order processing component 601 automates the processing of documentstraditionally associated with commercial purchases by storing andforwarding electronic versions of these documents to the networkmembers. A non-exhaustive list of the documents processed by orderprocessing component 601 include: (1) order inquiries, (2) purchaseorders, (3) blanket purchase orders, (4) scheduling agreements, (5)order acknowledgements, (5) shipping notices, (6) bills of lading, (7)delivery receipts, (8) invoices, and (9) invoice payments. Otherindustry specific documents may also be processed by the orderprocessing component 601. For example, in the chemical industry,documents such as certificates of analysis and material safety datasheets may also be transmitted between the parties through clearinghouse302.

An exemplary transaction will now be described with reference to FIG. 7.As shown, trading members 701 and 702, each having internal ERPs 705 and706, and translation servers 707 and 708, are connected to clearinghouse302. Member 702, in addition to ERP system 706, uses an EDI system 709.Members 701 and 702 may also have other specialized hardware orsoftware, such as MSDS computer 715, on which material safety datasheets are stored, or laboratory information management system (LIMS)716, at which laboratory related research or analysis software executes.Companies that provide third party support, such as a bank 703 and ashipping and logistics company 704, are also members in the network.

Assume that trading member 701 (the customer), wishes to purchase 100gallons of a chemical from member 702 (the supplier). Trading member 701enters the information for a purchase order for the chemicals into ERP705, which generates the purchase order and transmits it to translationserver 707 (Step 1). The clearinghouse 302 receives the order, reads thesupplier information and sends the order to member 702. At member 702,the purchase order is translated into an EDI message by translationserver 708 and then forwarded to the supplier's EDI system 709 and ERP706.

Member 702, upon accepting the order, sends an order acknowledgementmessage (ORAK) back through the clearinghouse to member 701 (Step 2). Ifa material safety data sheet (MSDS) is required for the order, it mayalso be similarly sent through clearinghouse 302 (Step 3). If ERP 705 isnot configured to handle MSDSs, it may be stored at an alternatecomputer 715 or viewed via web browser 716.

On the shipping date, member 702 sends a shipping notice to member 701through clearinghouse 302 (Step 4). The shipping notice may beautomatically generated by ERP 706 when it receives input indicatingshipment of the order. With the shipping notice, documents such as thecertificate of analysis, (Step 5), and the invoice, (Step 6), may alsobe sent.

B. Supplier Managed Inventory (SMI) Services (Component 602)

In general, SMI services refer to a suppliers monitoring of theinventory of its customer, and automatically shipping products to thecustomer as the inventory is depleted. Clearinghouse 302 facilitatesthese functions by providing customers the ability to automaticallytransmit the necessary inventory information from its ERP system to theclearinghouse and/or the supplier. Trading members who previously had anin-house SMI system can fully automate the transfer of SMI related datato their suppliers.

As an example of an SMI system, assume that trading member 702 (thesupplier) provides SMI services to trading member 701 (the customer).Members 701 and/or 702 may begin by setting up an account for member 701at the clearinghouse 302 by providing the SMI component 602 with theinitial account information, such as the products being managed, thelocations of the products, the minimum order quantity, and the productreorder criteria (e.g., the inventory depletion level at which toreorder product). Member 701 periodically updates SMI component 602 withSMI related data such as inventory information and inventory forecasts.When the updated information provided by member 701 meets the reordercriteria set in SMI component 602 (e.g., the actual inventory level isbelow the reorder point), SMI component 602 transmits a purchase orderto member 702. Member 702 may then fill the order.

By locating the SMI functionality at the clearinghouse 302, thecustomer's inventory information does not need to be transmitted to thesupplier. Accordingly, because clearinghouse 302 is a trusted thirdparty, customers may feel more secure that their confidential inventoryrelated information is not compromised.

As an alternative implementation of SMI component 602, instead ofnotifying the supplier when it is time to resupply product, SMIcomponent 602 may simply pass the inventory data to the supplier. Inthis implementation, the supplier decides, based on the received invoiceinformation, when to resupply the product.

C. Shipment Tracking (component 603)

Multiple shipping and logistics companies may provide shipping servicesto members of clearinghouse 302. Shipment tracking component 603communicates with these companies to allow members to track the shipmentof their products. Shipment information can be provided by shipmenttracking component 603 to the members by, for example, requiring theshipping companies, such as shipping member 704, to periodically updateshipment information stored in component 603. If a shipment is fallingbehind schedule, shipment tracking component 603 may automatically senda message informing the appropriate trading member of the tardiness ofthe shipment.

Alternatively, shipment tracking component 603 may wait for shipmenttracking requests from a trading member, such as member 701, beforerequesting the shipment tracking information from shipping member 704.

Trading members using the order processing component 601 ofclearinghouse 302 may preferably check the shipment status from anyorder-related document. If they do not use the order processingcomponent, they may be assigned a shipment tracking number used to queryshipment tracking component 603.

D. Banking/Billing (component 604)

In addition to the trading members and the shipping and logisticscompanies, companies in banking related businesses may join theclearinghouse network and provide members integrated banking relatedservices. For example, invoices sent by one member may be automaticallycopied by banking component 604 to the banking member used by thereceiver of the invoice. This is illustrated graphically in FIG. 7, inwhich the invoice from member 702 (step 5), is transmitted throughclearinghouse 302 to both trading member 701 and banking member 703. Attrading member's 701 instruction, banking member 703 may electronicallypay trading member 702 (Step 7).

A number of value added services may be offered by the member banks. Anon-exhaustive list of such services include:

(1) Summary invoicing. Banking member 703 may prepare summary invoices,such as a monthly summary invoice, for its members.

(2) Consolidation of transactions. A member's transactions over a periodmay be consolidated. The member would then receive one payment (ordebit) representing the net of its sales and its purchases in thenetwork.

(3) Purchase of receivables. Banking members may buy account receivablesfrom members that do not wish to carry their receivables. Multiplebanking members may bid for the account receivables of the tradingmember. Because information related to the invoice and payment record ofvendors is processed by clearinghouse 302, banking members bidding foraccount receivables can form intelligent estimates of the value of thereceivables. For example, if a banking member knows that all the vendorsin a particular member's account receivables have a good credit history,the bank may be willing to bid close to the nominal face value of thereceivables.

(4) Automated Payments. All payments made by banking members from onemember of the network to another member may be made on the specific dayspecified by the member.

(5) Credit Checks on Customers.

In summary, integrating banks, such as banking member 703, intoclearinghouse 302, provides trading members the ability toelectronically pay and receive payment notifications through theirexisting computer systems. Moreover, the banking members can use theintegration provided by the clearinghouse to provide value addedservices to the trading members.

E. Business Intelligence (Component 605)

By virtue of its position as a hub of the electronic commerce activitiesof its members, clearinghouse 302 contains a significant amount ofinformation that may be useful to its members. For example, the averageselling price of a certain chemical may be a valuable piece ofinformation to members that buy and sell that chemical.

Business intelligence component 605 mines aggregate data relating toelectronic commerce through the clearinghouse. Such data may includeprice information, service guidelines, information on new markets, andindustry information (e.g., total sales of product groups by region).Additionally, access to industry information such as pricing models,price-volume elasticity curves, and regional use information may also beprovided by business intelligence component 605. In general, anyinformation or aggregation of information passing through clearinghouse302 may be mined by business intelligence component 605 and provided tothe network members. One restricting factor on the information providedto the members is the practical limitation of not divulging confidentialor proprietary information.

Two areas in which intelligently mined aggregated data may beparticularly useful to members of clearinghouse 302 include supply chainsourcing scorecards and company specific business/market data.

Supply chain scorecards relate to member feedback regarding theperformance of the members. Scorecard information provided by businessintelligence component 605 may include information such as: (1)integrated supply chain data, (2) order product/service quality metrics,(3) order to arrival on-time reporting (i.e., member feedback relatingto whether orders from the member tend to arrive on time), and (4)customer-supplier non-conformance process and systems (i.e., memberfeedback relating to whether members conform to the agreed terms oftheir transactions).

Further, business intelligence component 605 may provide members accessto their own transactions. The members may use such information byperiodically importing it into an in-house business intelligence system.Members without such an in-house system may view the information frombusiness intelligence component 605 through a web browser.

F. Product Catalog (component 606)

Product catalog component 606 implements a searchable catalog ofproducts being sold by the trading members. In particular, productcatalog component 606 stores product information uploaded by the tradingmembers. Information in product catalog 606 may then be searched byother members of the network.

Catalog searches through catalog component 606 may be viewed by thetrading members through an interface such as a web browser or, aftertranslation by a translation server, at the members ERP system or othermember computer system.

G. Logistics Procurement (component 607)

Logistics procurement component 607 assists members in finding the bestshipping company and shipping method for any particular transaction.Shipping members 704 may update procurement component 607 with theirrates and with the availability of their shipping lines. The tradingmembers can then use procurement component 607 to compare shipping costsand delivery schedules of competing shippers to find the best match foreach shipment. Shipping members 704 benefit from procurement component607 by having a large and easily accessible market for their services.

As an alternative to the shipping members 704 pre-entering theirshipping rates into procurement component 607, the shipping members mayview shipment requests input by trading members and in response submitshipment proposals to the trading members.

H. Regulatory Reporting (component 608)

Certain industries, such as the chemical industry, are highly regulatedby federal and state agencies. Laws, such as the Clean Air Act or theToxic Substance Control Act, or regulations promulgated by agenciesacting pursuant to a law, may require complying companies to fileperiodic (e.g., daily, weekly, or monthly) or event specific reportswith the agencies. For example, the EPA or other agencies may requirereports relating to the volume of certain chemicals sold,bio-accumulation, exposure indexes, community right to known issues,emission credit reporting, and product registration.

Regulatory reporting component 608 enables clearinghouse members toefficiently and reliably handle their regulatory reporting obligations.In particular, a member wishing to use regulatory reporting component608 may set up an account in regulatory component 608 includinginformation such as when the report should be sent and the informationrequired in the report. To help facilitate this process, regulatoryreporting component 608 may include a variety of pre-stored templates,each including the basic information necessary for a particularregulatory report.

After setting up an account, the member simply transmits the informationrequired in the report to clearinghouse 302, either automatically fromthe ERP or manually from a web browser. At clearinghouse 302, regulatoryreporting component 608 saves the information, and when appropriate,generates the regulatory report. Clearinghouse 302 may then transmit thereport to the appropriate regulatory agency.

I. Product Auctions (Component 609)

As previously described, clearinghouse 302 helps to initiatetransactions between trading members by providing a universalinfrastructure through which buyers can communicate with theirsuppliers. Product catalog component 606 further facilitates theinitiation of transactions by providing an electronic catalog ofproducts. Product auction component 609 gives buyers and sellers anotheroption to initiate transactions.

Through auction component 609, sellers may put products up for auction.In particular, auction component 609 allows sellers to input informationrelating to the product they wish to sell, and allows buyers to inputbids on these products. One of the benefits of auction component 609 isthat it gives sellers the opportunity to quickly sell excess capacity,thus helping them to optimize their capacity schedules.

J. Industry News (Component 610)

In addition to facilitating efficient transactions between members,clearinghouse 302 may function as an industry specific portal throughwhich members may receive or generate industry related news andinformation. For example, content stored by industry news component 610may be transmitted to members at their request and viewed at a webbrowser.

As described above, clearinghouse 302 integrates a variety of members,possibly each using disparate computer systems, into a single businesscommunity. The clearinghouse assists in the matching of buyers andsellers, order fulfillment, and payment processing. Clearinghouse 302functions to automate the cumbersome supply chain traditionally followedby businesses and provides value added services to its members.

One implementation of clearinghouse 302 is a clearinghouse specific tothe chemical industry. In this situation, functions unique to thechemical industry such as transmitting certificates of analysis andmaterial safety data sheets (MSDS), are provided by the clearinghouse. Amore general clearinghouse, a clearinghouse specific to otherindustries, or a network of industry specific clearinghouses, may alsobe implemented.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a network of industry specificclearinghouses 801 (chemical industry), 802 (auto industry), 803(aerospace industry), and 804 (other industry), and their respectivetrading members 811-814. Clearinghouses 801-804 are linked to one otherto allow members of one clearinghouse to participate in transactionswith members of another clearinghouse. For example, members 812 of autoindustry clearinghouse 802 may at times wish to purchase products fromchemical companies. Accordingly, by linking clearinghouse 801 and 802,one of members 812 may purchase chemicals from one of members 811.Procedures specific to the chemical industry, such as the transmissionof a material safety data sheet, would be handled by chemicalclearinghouse 801.

It will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that theembodiments as described above may be implemented in many differentembodiments of software, firmware, and hardware in the entitiesillustrated in the figures. The actual software code or specializedcontrol hardware used to implement the present invention is not limitingof the present invention. Thus, the operation and behavior of theembodiments were described without specific reference to the specificsoftware code or specialized hardware components, it being understoodthat a person of ordinary skill in the art would be able to designsoftware and control hardware to implement the embodiments based on thedescription herein.

The foregoing description of preferred embodiments of the presentinvention provides illustration and description, but is not intended tobe exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed.Modifications and variations are possible consistent with the aboveteachings or may be acquired from practice of the invention. The scopeof the invention is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

1. A method for facilitating business-to-business transactions between a plurality of members in a trading network comprising: connecting a clearinghouse to an enterprise resource planning computer system (ERP) associated with a first trading member of the network, wherein the enterprise resource planning computer system is configured to manage resources of the first trading member; receiving a purchase order for a product at the clearinghouse from the first trading member of the network and directed to a second member of the network; forwarding the purchase order from the clearinghouse to the second trading member of the network; receiving a shipping notice at the clearinghouse from the second trading member of the network directed to the first trading member for the product associated with the purchase order; forwarding the shipping notice from the clearinghouse to the first trading member of the network; receiving an invoice at the clearinghouse from the second trading member of the network for the product; and forwarding the invoice to the first trading member of the network; wherein the purchase order, the shipping notice, and the invoice are received at the clearinghouse in an extensible markup language (XML) formatted message.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising purchasing account receivables from the second trading member, a value of the account receivables based on an analysis of payment histories of transactions in the network.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring an inventory of the first trading member and in response to the inventory reaching a preset level, generating and transmitting the purchase order to the second trading member.
 4. The method of claim 1, further including storing a product catalog of products available for sale and forwarding results of search requests of the catalog to the members.
 5. The method of claim 1, further including aggregating data passing through the clearinghouse and mining the aggregated data for information requested by the members.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing the XML message and providing services related to order fulfillment for the transaction.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising forwarding the invoice to a pre-designated banking member of the network.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising connecting a translation server to the enterprise resource planning computer system of the first trading member to convert the purchase order into the clearinghouse XML format.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising connecting a translation server to an enterprise resource planning computer system of the second trading member to convert one of the invoice and the shipping notice into a message in a format compatible with the clearinghouse XML format.
 10. A method for facilitating business-to-business transactions between members in a trading network comprising: connecting a plurality of translation servers to a like plurality of enterprise resource planning computer systems associated with member companies, wherein each enterprise resource planning computer system is configured to manage resources of a respective said member company, including the management of supply chain activities of the company; connecting the plurality of translation servers to a clearinghouse computer server coupled to the members; each translation server converting messages from a said enterprise resource planning computer system into a format of the clearinghouse and forwarding the converted messages to the clearinghouse, the messages corresponding to communications in a business-to-business transaction that relate to initiation of the transaction, and at least one of order fulfillment for the transaction and payment processing for the transaction; operating the clearinghouse computer server to: receive a purchase order for a product at a clearinghouse from a first trading member of the network and directed to a second member of the network; forward the purchase order from the clearinghouse to the second trading member of the network; receive a shipping notice at the clearinghouse from a the second trading member of the network directed to the first trading member for the product associated with the purchase order; forward the shipping notice to the first trading member; receive an invoice at the clearinghouse from the second trading member for the product; and forward the invoice to the first trading member.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising operating the computer clearinghouse server to forward the invoice to a pre-designated banking member of the network.
 12. The method of claim 1 wherein the enterprise resource planning computer system is configured for management of supply chain activities of the first trading member.
 13. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving shipment tracking information at the clearinghouse from a shipping member of the network for shipment of the product associated with the shipping notice.
 14. The method of claim 13 further comprising automatically sending shipment tracking information to the first trading member of the network if the shipment of the product associated with the shipping notice falls behind schedule.
 15. The method of claim 13 further comprising sending the shipment tracking information to the first trading member of the network in response to a request.
 16. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a material safety data sheet (MSDS) for the product at the clearinghouse from the second trading member of the network and forwarding the MSDS to the first trading member of the network.
 17. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving a certificate of analysis (CA) for the product at the clearinghouse from the second trading member of the network and forwarding the CA to the first trading member of the network. 